happy family fun time

Both of my beloved's brothers have been in town recently.  My brother-in-law and his wife -- graduate students in architecture -- are visiting for the week after a semester abroad, allowing our bambini ample opportunity to renew acquaintances with them.  For the lass, it has been a chance to really develop her sense of who they are in her life, since she has little recollection of them from their last visit at Christmas time.  In the past week or so, she has gone from giving her aunt and uncle her signature skeptical sizing-up stare to playing happily on the floor with them and even trying to say their names.  We've been celebrating this brother-in-law's birthday today.  It's been great good fun.  My other brother-in-law was here one evening late  last week before flying overseas for work, and the lads had great good fun crawling all over him and investigating the name badge his company requires him to wear.  The lass now says his name, too, and points out both her uncles and aunt in pictures.

Seeing the bambini with their uncles and aunt and the relationships that are developing among them is so neat.  My beloved often speaks of the fun he had playing with his uncles when he was a child, and the value he places on the relationships he has with them today.  Our younger lad has been processing the various family relationships and noting similarities such as the red hair he and one of his uncles both have.

This past Sunday afternoon most of the in-town members of my beloved's extended family (and there are many of us -- with many more in far-flung places around the country) gathered for some "happy family fun time" -- a phrase coined long ago to describe the scene when so many generations are gathered in one place.  On this particular day that meant swimming, grilling, swinging, visiting, and laughing together, all within the context of the lovingly and skillfully crafted home and outdoor living spaces constructed by the family members themselves.

Gatherings with the larger clan are always lively and energizing.  We are richly blessed to count among us four generations of family, many examples of sacramental marriage, and a shared Catholic faith that binds us together in our sense of being and purpose. 

Just as I am grateful for the opportunities my bambini have to cultivate their relationships with my parents and sister, so too I am for the many chances they have to know the family from whom their dad hails -- dear people who have become my family as well.